Navy divers have recovered the cockpit voice recorder of the Lion Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in October, Indonesian officials said on Monday, in a possible boost to the accident investigation. Ridwan Djamaluddin, a deputy maritime minister, told reporters that remains of some of the 189 people who died in the crash were also discovered at the seabed location. "We got confirmation this morning from the National Transportation Safety Committee’s chairman," he said. A spokesman for the Indonesian navy’s western fleet, Lt. Col. Agung Nugroho, said divers using high-tech "ping locator" equipment had started a new search effort on Friday and found the voice recorder beneath 26 feet of seabed mud. The plane crashed in waters 98 feet deep. The device is being transported to a navy port in Jakarta, Nugroho said, and will be handed over to the transportation safety committee, which is overseeing the accident investigation. Jakarta plane crash: Flight Lion Air JT610 "This is good news, especially for us who lost our loved ones," said Irianto, the father of Rio Nanda Pratama, a doctor who died in the crash. "Even though we don’t yet know the contents of the CVR, this is some relief from our despair," he said. The 2-month-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet plunged into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta on Oct. 29, killing everyone on board. The cockpit data recorder was recovered within days of the crash and showed that the jet’s airspeed indicator had malfunctioned on its last four flights. An Indonesian National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) official examines a turbine engine from Lion Air flight JT610 at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta Credit: Reuters If the voice recorder is undamaged, it could provide valuable additional information to investigators. The Lion Air crash was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people died on a Garuda flight near Medan. In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea, killing all 162 people on board. Lion Air is one of Indonesia’s youngest airlines but has grown rapidly, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. It has been expanding aggressively in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 600 million people.

The crash was the world’s first of a Boeing Co 737 MAX jet and the deadliest of 2018, and the recovery of the aircraft’s second black box earlier on Monday may provide an account of the last actions of the doomed jet’s pilots. “We have our own laboratory and personnel team to do it,” Haryo Satmiko, deputy chief of the transportation safety committee, told Reuters. Contact with flight JT610 was lost 13 minutes after it took off on Oct. 29 from the capital, Jakarta, heading north to the tin-mining town of Pangkal Pinang.

Divers on Thursday recovered a flight recorder from the crashed Lion Air jet on the seafloor, a crucial development in the investigation into what caused the two-month-old plane to plunge into Indonesian seas earlier this week, killing all 189 people on board. One TV station showed footage of two divers after they surfaced, swimming to an inflatable vessel and placing the bright orange device into a large container that was transferred to a search-and-rescue ship. "I was desperate because the current below was strong but I am confident of the tools given to me," said navy 1st Sgt. Hendra, who uses a single name, in a television interview. After narrowing the possible location, "I started digging and cleaning the debris until I finally found an orange object," he said, standing on the deck of a ship next to his diving mate. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed early on Monday just minutes after takeoff from the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Jakarta plane crash: Flight Lion Air JT610 It was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia in more than two decades and renewed concerns about safety in its fast-growing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and U.S. blacklists. Navy Col. Monang Sitompul told local TV that was is believed to be the aircraft's fuselage was also seen on the seafloor. Officials said the location is about 400 meters (yards) northwest of the coordinates where the plane lost contact. An Indonesian Navy diver prepares to dive at an assigned point to search for the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610 at sea, north of Karawang Credit: AFP Data from flight-tracking sites show the plane had erratic speed and altitude in the early minutes of a flight on Sunday and on its fatal flight on Monday. Safety experts caution, however, that the data must be checked for accuracy against the flight data recorder. Several passengers on the Sunday flight from Bali to Jakarta have recounted problems that included a long-delayed takeoff for an engine check and terrifying descents in the first 10 minutes in the air. Lion Air has ordered 50 of the MAX 8 planes and one of its subsidiary airlines was last year the first to operate the new generation jet. Investigators say a preliminary report into the accident could be released within a month but complete findings will take several months more. The Lion Air crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people died on a Garuda flight near Medan. In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea, killing all 162 on board. Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June. The U.S. lifted a decadelong ban in 2016. Lion Air, a discount carrier, is one of Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. It has been expanding aggressively in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 600 million people.

By Panu Wongcha-um CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Reuters) – Rescuers in Thailand scrabbled to clear a constricted passageway for divers deep inside a flooded cave complex on Monday as the search for 12 boys and their soccer coach entered a ninth day. The divers from a Thai navy SEAL unit were within 500 meters of a chamber containing an elevated rock mound, nicknamed “Pattaya Beach” by cavers, which could have provided the boys with a refuge when rains flooded the cave, blocking the way out. Progress has been slow as divers need to widen parts of a narrow 100 meter stretch that they were unable to pass through without their air cylinders becoming jammed.

MAE SAI, Thailand (AP) — Rescue divers spent much of Monday making preparations for what is hoped will be a final push in their search for 12 boys and their soccer coach who have been missing for more than a week in a cave in northern Thailand.

Rescue divers inched closer to a spot in a flooded cave where 12 boys and their football coach have been missing for more than a week after days of bad weather beset the grueling search. The children, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old assistant coach have not been heard from since they ventured into the recesses of the Tham Luang cave in northern Thailand on Saturday and were blocked by heavy rains. “Today what we have to do is to rush to the kids,” Thai Navy Seal commander and Rear Admiral Apakorn Yookongkaew said earlier at the site.